Black Aces: Penguins Recall Joseph, O’Connor, Angello, Bjorkqvist

Don’t get too excited about the Pittsburgh Penguins recalling several young minor leaguers on Tuesday. The players, including P-O Joseph, who had a head-turning stint earlier this season, are most likely on the Penguins roster to comprise the Black Aces crew since the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins season is over.

But, you never know, either.

The Penguins have recalled forwards Anthony Angello, Kasper Bjorkqvist, Drew O’Connor, and defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph general manager Ron Hextall announced.

Angello, 25, appeared in NHL 19 games and had four points (2-2-4) and was plus-4. He also appeared in 12 games for WBS, whose season concluded on Sunday. In WBS, he scored six goals, four assists, and 10 points.

The 23-year-old Bjorkqvist appeared in five games for WBS with one goal: an overtime winner on May 15. Before joining WBS for the end of their season, Bjorkqvist spent the 2020-21 campaign with KooKoo of Liiga (Finland’s top professional league). In Finland’s top league, Bjorkqvist scored 26 points (11-15-26) in 44 games.

His 26 points were tied for fourth-most on KooKoo.

O’Connor, 22, made the Penguins out of training camp. He played in 10 games for the Penguins, including an assist in his NHL debut on Jan. 26 at Boston. In WBS, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound O’Connor had seven goals, 12 assists, and 19 points in 20 games. His 19 points were third-most on WBS.

Joseph, 21, played 16 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins in his first NHL season. He scored one goal, four assists, and five points but was a star when both Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin were out of the lineup. Joseph notched a point (assist) in his NHL debut on Jan. 22 against the New York Rangers and later registered a three-point game (3 assists) against the Rangers on Jan. 30.

Joseph and Penguins defenseman John Marino functioned at the top pairing in the Jan. 30 game. Marino played 30 minutes, and Joseph played more than 26 minutes.

The Laval, Quebec native, skated in 23 games for WBS this season, recording 13 points (1G-12A).

Pittsburgh looks to even their Round One series as they take on the New York Islanders in Game 2 tonight at 7:30 p.m.